Meredith College Shares Flu Prevention Tips

As the spring semester begins and flu season reaches its peak, Meredith College has taken precautions to help the campus community avoid getting sick.

Experts say a flu shot is the best way to avoid the flu. This fall, the College held five flu vaccine clinics, vaccinating students, faculty, and staff members. The Health Center and the Human Resources department offered these clinics.

In addition to getting a flu shot, Health Services Director Sherri Henderson suggests the following ways to avoid the flu.

• Wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap or sanitize your hands often with Purel or an alcohol-based product.
• Wipe down shared work or household objects such as telephones, keyboards, computer mice, and TV and stereo remote controls with Lysol.
• Avoid people who are coughing.
• Get some fresh air when possible.

If you have flu symptoms:

• Call your doctor.  In some cases, the medication Tamiflu will make the illness easier and milder.  Call your doctor if you have had a flu shot, but get sick anyway.
• Stay home, rest, and avoid contact with others. Working or attending school will just prolong your illness and possibly expose other people to the flu.

Meredith’s Incident Management Team, led by Dean of Students Ann Gleason, put together a plan to minimize the impact of the flu on campus. Meredith’s Carroll Health Center will notify the Dean of Students office of any students who are diagnosed with an influenza-like virus. These students will be asked to self-isolate at home if possible. Students who cannot return home will be provided with an isolation room on campus.

Meredith’s Dining Services encourages students to designate a Flu Buddy, who would come to Belk Dining Hall with the student’s Cam Card, reusable to go container and reusable mug and pick up food for the student who has the flu. (Dining menus are available at meredith.campusdish.com.)

Guidelines for students with the flu include isolating until they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications (Tylenol or Motrin) and staying  in daily communication with professors and the Dean of Students so the College knows how they are doing and when they expect to return. Students are also asked to be evaluated at the Health Center before returning to class.

For more information on Meredith College’s flu season preventive measures, contact Sherri Henderson, director of health services, at (919) 760-8535.

Learn more about the flu